cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/57035165
China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) naval and airborne exercises around the contested Scarborough Reef do not change the Philippines’ legal claim to the South China Sea location, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said in August 2026.
“Military activities or demonstrations do not alter the legal status of maritime features or the Philippines’ maritime entitlements under international law,” an AFP spokesman told the Philippines News Agency. The declaration came two days after the PLA surged amphibious forces and aircraft bombers for drills near the reef, 120 nautical miles from the Philippines.
China seized Scarborough Reef in 2012 even though it is within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ). China has escalated tensions in the region since then with activities including harassing Philippine patrol boats and fishing vessels, especially in recent years. China also announced in 2025 that it established a “national nature preserve” on 8,700 acres of the contested shoal, a move highly criticized partly because Beijing had caused environmental damage for years, including irreparable harm to 19 square kilometers of coral reef in the South China Sea. China also sent research vessels and installed floating markers near the reef in June, raising concerns in Manila that Beijing planned to build permanent structures.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea, a vital global trade route with rich undersea deposits of gas and oil, despite overlapping claims from the Philippines and other nations.
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Check this out
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Scarborough+Shoal/@15.100266,117.7601408,35574m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x33eac40a29e58811:0x68aa73d0f15ed504!8m2!3d15.2191312!4d117.7402694!16zL20vMDYzbnp3!5m1!1e1?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDgxOS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
It’s almost an atoll, the water is very shallow over a wide area. China can ‘reclaim’ the land and make a static aircraft carrier out of it, like Guam. They already did this in some similar islands, the Spratly Islands: https://www.uscc.gov/research/chinas-island-building-south-china-sea-damage-marine-environment-implications-and
and nearby, Subu Reef.
also Mischief Reef and Gavin Reef, Johnson South Reef, and more.
Needless to say, this completely tanks the ecology of the area and makes traditional uses by locals impossible.
Oh. So many.
Apart from the direct impact on nature & locals, I’m once again reminded of this: